How to show the new File Explorer app in Start

Hello everyone. Today we’re going to show you how you can make the new File Explorer show up in Start, which is disabled by default. This will require modifying the permissions and content of a system file, so please be careful.

Explanation

Since Windows 10 Build 14936, Microsoft is including the File Explorer appwhich we have already seen on Windows 10 Mobile and the Surface Hub in Windows 10 for PCs.However, it is not shown in Start as of right now due to a flag in the app’s AppxManifest.xml. What we’re going to do is remove that flag which tells it not to show up and then re-register the app package.

Tutorial

Alright, the first thing you want to do is press Windows + R, copy the following into the textbox and press Enter:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.FileExplorer_cw5n1h2txyewy

This should open the folder which contains the files of the File Explorer app.

Next, we need to make sure we can edit the file. By default, the owner of the file is TrustedInstaller.

To be able to modify the file, we need to take ownership of the file and then grant our user permissions to modify the file.

The easiest way to do this without any extra tweaks or programs is via PowerShell.
To spawn a PowerShell as Administrator, open the File menu in the Windows explorer window.
Then, select “Open Windows PowerShell” and “Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator”

Next, you want to run the actual command to take ownership of the file and reset the permissions. Do so by running the two following commands in the PowerShell window:

takeown /F .\AppxManifest.xml

icacls .\AppxManifest.xml /reset

Your output should look similar to this:

Don’t close the PowerShell yet because we’ll need it one more time.

Now open the file up in your favorite text editor, find String AppListEntry=”none” and delete it. After that save the file and close your editor.